Al-Jazeera: the broadcaster has fallen foul of governments across the Middle East

The Arab media are under attack because they now have the "upper hand" over western broadcasters, a senior al-Jazeera executive has claimed.

Mr Ali Moh'd Kamal, the marketing director of the Qatar-based satellite channel, said he reserved the right to show pictures of dead bodies on the TV station because the media have a duty to show the bloody price of war.

"This is the first time the Arab media have had the upper hand on the western media," he said

"They don't like [us] to have this. They want to control the news. Controlling the news has become too difficult because of the development of communications - a lot of channels are available," he added.

Mr Kamal spoke to MediaGuardian.co.uk last night at the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards in London, after al-Jazeera was awarded the prize for circumvention of censorship.

He argued that al-Jazeera had stolen a march on its western counterparts because its journalists in Iraq were more familiar with the country and the Arab world,

Mr Kamal defended the channel's controversial decision to screen footage of dead British soldiers, US prisoners of war and a badly mutilated Iraqi child. "Our duty is to tell the truth. This is news, if we didn't broadcast, someone else would," he said.

The western media had screened material in the past that was degrading to Iraqis, he said, and it was hypocritical of the military or governments to invoke the Geneva convention in protest.

"We are doing our role, which is journalism - we are not a lawyer," he said.

Mr Kamal claimed the western media were subject to more censorship than Arab channels, most of which are state controlled.

"Censorship is coming more from western than Arab countries. They [people] react more to what we are saying," he said.

It has broadcast a number of taped recordings of Osama bin Laden and was the only channel filming in Kabul during the American bombardment.

In the present conflict al-Jazeera has a large presence in Iraqi cities, including the only reporter inside Basra, who has contradicted reports of a popular uprising.

"After September 11 we built a brand," said Mr Kamal.

"Now we are moving that on, we have not suddenly happened and disappeared, we have started and we are not going to disappear.

"We have credible news. We have a duty not to remain silent. Everybody watches CNN, what does CNN watch?

"Now we are credible, people know our channel. Our presenters report in the most famous cities in Iraq."

Al-Jazeera is owned by the government of Qatar and funded by moderates in the Gulf state.

It was founded in 1996 and recruited many journalists from a former BBC Arabic operation, but it was not until September 11 that it attracted major notice.